A hero is generally defined as “a person, who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities”, but for me a hero is much more than that. A hero is someone who shows you that everyone is capable of obtaining their dreams if you don’t allow fear to paralyse you. Heroes are selfless people who perform extraordinary acts. The mark of heroes is not necessarily the result of their action, but what they are willing to do for others and for their chosen cause. Even if they fail, their determination lives on for others to follow. The glory lies not in the achievement, but in the sacrifice. It is why their story lives on long after they’re gone.
There is always one person above others that stands out to me when I think of my own personal hero. Carl Brashear – the first African American US Navy Master Diver. A man who reflects the best traits in humanity, even when he fails and falls he doesn’t indulge in self-pity, he rises again to the challenge. A trait I will forever admire him for. For his strength to overcome his fears and challenges to be the man he always wanted to be, staying down was never an option – he always had a reason to keep going, even when that reason seemed impossible.
A sharecropper's son with minimal formal schooling, Brashear joined the Navy in 1948 and endured years of racial taunts, even death threats, as he pushed ahead for what he hoped would be a glamorous diving career. Despite his obstacles he graduated in 1955 to become a salvage diver, retrieving sunken planes and ships and on the rare occasion World War II torpedoes.
Two years later, Brashear was working for the USS Hoist in the south of Spain to help recover a bomb 2000 feet below the Mediterranean, freed by an American plane in combat. Upon retrieving the bomb, a cable snapped which lifted a steel pipe to plummet on the deck, flying straight into Brashear’s leg, severing it in half.
The undeniable reason for my admiration for Brashear was not because he overcame his fear of death threats and harassment of his classmates, but for overcoming his fear of losing his dream. Instead of allowing his amputation to drag him to surrender, he used it to push himself even further. After receiving an artificial leg and a lot of physical therapy, Brashear returned to diving duty and in 1970 he qualified as a Master Diver.
This man teaches the true value of never giving up and that we, as human beings, are capable of anything we set our mind to. We choose our own paths and if we are passionate and determined then nothing will get in our way. Carl Brashear’s story will always live on, not because of who he became but because of what he overcame. His courage, his bravery and his determination bring out the best qualities in humanity, inspiring me to achieve.